Maybe not is my answer to the question above.Covering new releases is not my thing, there are tons of other blogs for that, so I’m not going to discuss the specs that you probably already know. I was really looking forward to see what Canon will bring out on 03.11.11, because like a lot of indie filmmakers currently using Canon DSLRs, I was really hoping to see Canon’s answer to Sony FS100 and Panasonic AF101. I have to say, to my great disappointment Canon released a camcorder, that is totally out my price range and for that matter of majority of indie/ low budget filmmakers. Many tweets and comments on different blogs mirror my opinion. People knew it won’t be 5D MKIII, but many were hoping for a reasonably priced camcorder that would work with Canon EF lenses currently used by many of us. C300 does come with EF mount but at $20k price tag definitely not something I could afford or would even like to spend on my next camera. More than that, C300 doesn’t even look like such a revolutionary camera at this price tag. Canon were promising to make a Historic Global Announcement. I have to say the new C300 is certainly not a Historic camera. It rivals the Sony F3, but nothing more really. Like cheaper F3, C300 will not really be budget filmmakers camera of choice. Majority of people looking to upgrade from a DSLR were looking at either FS100 or AF101. For now I can safely, but sadly say, these are still the only 2 proper camcorders around $5k price tag, the only 2 that can be considered as a reasonable step up from a DSLR.

But as you may know the camera releases didn’t stop there. RED has finally released their long awaited Scarlet on the same day as Canon. On paper it looks like a really nice camera and actually looks much more like a Historic Camera, than C300. For a camera that shoots 4K and has a lot of features found in $58k EPIC, $10k body only price is seems to be really attractive, in fact almost within reach on indie filmmakers, but add all the essential accessories and will cost more like $20k, still much cheaper than EPIC, but again out of reach for most of us. I’ve never been a massive fan of RED. RED ONE is very expensive, can be slow in operation and not very reliable. Even more expensive EPIC has massive reliability issues too. Philip Bloom owns one and has had problems with it on 2 out of 2 shoots he used it for, not something that is really acceptable from a $58k camera. So at the moment I’m a bit skeptical of what Scarlet will turn out to be. Everyone agrees that C300 will probably be reliable camera straight out of the box, where Scarlet users will probably have to wait for multiple firmware updates to get the best performance out of it. Saying that, people are very, very exited about the new Scarlet, I’ve seen many very positive & exciting comments/tweets regarding the new Scarlet. A lot of people express their wish to buy it, but I haven’t seen even one comment expressing a wish to buy the C300; like one Tweeter member said, the only person who seems to be excited about the new C300 is Vincent Laforet, understandably so. The Scarlet will do well for sure, even at $20k this will be the cheapest camera with such features. I really don’t know where C300 will fit in, probably like PB said best place for it is broadcast work along side F3. Unfortunately it won’t be changing the game for anyone.

The only mildly exciting announcement on 3th of November was the development of new Canon DSLR capable of shooting 4K footage. This camera looks very much like 1D X, which is also one of new cameras, but for me the improvements in 1D X don’t justify the price tag of around $7000. This top of the line Canon camera is primarily designed for professional photographers, so by no means I would say it’s not worth its money, just not for budget videographer. I thing both FS100 and AF101 are much better value for money tools for videographers than 1D X.

Coming back to the new concept DSLR currently being developed (or possibly already developed and in testing), this is going to be much more video orientated than 1D X. Up to 4K resolution, quite possibly introduction of headphones jack, peeking, zebras, video optimized sensor, HD-SDI output, clean HD output and would be nice to stick at least one XLR input into that battery grip. Of course, except for 4K resolution this is just a wish list rather than a fact list. A few reasons why I’m only mildly excited about the announcement:

1: It is going to be as expensive as 1D X or even more, around $7k-$10k, again not 5D MKII price range. That is why people always talking about 5D MKIII, the price range, features for money. Ever since 5D MKI came out it, it was the best value for money stills camera for me; 5D MKII followed the suit, so Canon please just bring out the 5D MKIII already.

2: No idea when this new going to be released, wouldn’t expect Canon to release a $10k camera capable of shooting 4K resolution straight after they released $20k camera capable of shooting only 1080P and just 720p at 60fps. People buying C300 will not be happy to see cheaper DSLR perform better than high-end camcorder. I wouldn’t expect this camera to come out in next 5 months. We might actually see 5D MKII replacement before that.

So all in all, 3th of November wasn’t a historic day for me. Scarlet is the most exciting thing announced for me, but certainly out of my budget.

The one camera that I’m currently excited about is Sony NEX-5N. That is what I’m calling exciting camera, incredible value for money. Tiny $500 camera with big features including 60fps at 1080p; not even Sony’s F3 or Canons new $20k C300 can do that; crazy! This is the camera that can shoot very cinematic looking videos; it’s compatible with majority of lovely, cheap vintage manual lenses out there and to take the full advantage of manual focusing it even has peeking, something that can’t be found even on latest $7k Canon 1D X. With compatible Sony lenses it will even autofocus in real time, again something that Canon’s new 1D X and even C300 won’t be able to do.

5N can be a great B camera, but it could even be a great A camera if you are shooting something for yourself. Of course if you turn up to a paid gig with a compact looking camera like this, your client will probably freak out, but only because they won't know what quality images this camera produces. The best thing about this camera, it is affordable to almost anyone, there aren’t really any cheaper video DSLR cameras with APS-C sensor anyway, so if you are looking to spend some money on a video camera, the 5N is the one of best value for money cameras at the moment. In fact I really want to buy one myself, maybe I will treat myself for Christmas.